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Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W Bush by Robert Draper

Mens sana in corpore sano is a fatuous tag for a political leader to adopt as a guiding principle. Some of the greatest in history have been physical wrecks. The delusion that pursuing fitness to the point of obsession is likely to make one a better president or prime minister would be risible if it were not now so widespread. Even Vladimir Putin no longer wears a shirt for photocalls.

If George W Bush spent a fraction of the hours that he devotes to speed-cycling listening to wise counsellors, his presidency might not be ending in a shambles. Robert Draper describes the president on a morning run, two days after being reinaugurated in January 2005: "A thousand calories in 80 minutes. . . that was Bush's crazed baseline .. . It was about more than making girlymen out of two Secret Service agents, two White House photographers, and a media guru. It was about